Dr. Haak's history with John Brown University goes back to 1985 when she was the Administrative Assistant to JBU's President. While employed at JBU, she earned her B.S. in Business Administration and then went on to earn both her MBA and Ed.D. degreses at the University of Arkansas.

From 1999-2005, Dr. Haak served as the first Director of Graduate Business Programs at JBU. Prior to that, she was the Director for the Soderquist Center for Business and Leadership at JBU. Although she left JBU in 2005, she has continued to teach graduate classes for the university. The classes she teaches most often are Marketing Strategies, Designing and Executing Strategies and Foundations of Leadership.

In addition to teaching classes for JBU, Dr. Haak also serves as the Executive Director for the Illinois River Watershed Partnership.